Category Archives: All

Sweden – Proposes Nanomaterial Reporting

The Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI), on December 1, 2015, proposed mandatory reporting of nanomaterials in chemicals products. This would include reporting of intentionally added nanomaterials in most chemical products, but nanomaterials in articles (per REACH definition) would be excluded from the reporting requirements.

The Swedish Chemicals Agency proposes that companies should have a duty to report if chemical products contain nanomaterials. The aim of this proposal is to improve knowledge about which nanomaterials there are on the Swedish market.

Sweden is one of several EU member states that has or is planning to implement nanomaterial reporting requirements. The full report leading up to the KEMI proposal is available on the KEMI website.

Belgium – Nanomaterial Registration

Requirements of a Belgium regulation that requires manufacturers and importers to register chemical products containing nanomaterials came into effect starting January 1, 2016. Existing substances produced in nanoparticle state were to be registered by January 1, 2016. Manufacturers and importers of chemical mixtures containing a substance produced in a nanoparticle state have an additional year to register – until January 1, 2017. Additional information on the Belgium regulation and the registration process are available on the nanoregistry portal.

EU – Commission Announces Circular Economy Package

The European Commission announced on December 2, 2015 that it is adopting an ambitious new Circular Economy Package. The Commission press release listed the key actions to be carried out under the current Commission’s mandate. Action items that are relevant to the EEE industry include:

  • Funding of over €650 million under Horizon 2020 and €5.5 billion under the structural funds;
  • Development of quality standards for secondary raw materials to increase the confidence of operators in the single market;
  • Measures in the Ecodesign working plan for 2015-2017 to promote reparability, durability and recyclability of products, in addition to energy efficiency;
  • A strategy on plastics in the circular economy, addressing issues of recyclability, biodegradability, the presence of hazardous substances in plastics, and the Sustainable Development Goals target for significantly reducing marine litter;

The broad range of actions making up the Commission’s circular economy package may have significant impact on the EEE industry and manufacturers over the upcoming decade. Impacts may include:

  • Ecodesign implementing measures that include design for reuse and recycling requirements in addition to the traditional energy efficiency requirements.
  • Requirements to make repair information available
  • Emphasis on implementing an environmental management system
  • Increased scrutiny of green claims
  • Product environmental footprint to measure and communicate environmental information
  • Increased Green Public Procurement (GPP)
  • Increased use of recycled plastics and recycled criterial materials
  • Development of quality standards for secondary raw materials
  • Increased exchange of information between manufacturers and recyclers

IEC62474 – Declarable Substances List Updated to Version D10.00

Version D10.00 of the IEC 62474 Declarable Substance List (DSL) and the Reference Substance List (RSL) were released on December 17, 2015. The substance lists are used globally by EEE manufacturers, suppliers, and IT solution providers as a common list of substances and substance groups that are declared throughout the supply chain.

The update includes:

  • four of five substances from the December 17, 2015 SVHC additions to the EU REACH Candidate List and
  • Changes in the reporting threshold of the four phthalate substances that were added to the EU RoHS Directive earlier this year.

The IEC 62474 data exchange format (XML schema and developer’s table) was not updated during this maintenance cycle. The database update is the final step in maintenance cycle (MC-2015-02) which was started in September 2015.

A detailed summary of the changes is provided on our IEC 62474 blog.

 

DigitalEurope Proposes PFOA Exemption for Spare Parts

In response to the anticipated restriction of PFOA, the DigitalEurope industry group is proposing an exemption for spare parts across all industries.

Earlier in 2015, ECHA’s Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) recommended a restriction on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related substances due to the substances’ persistence, bioaccumulation and toxic (PBT) properties. As part of the recommendation, SEAC noted that a car spare parts exemption proposed by the German Association of Car Manufacturers and the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is justified. DigitalEurope is proposing for an exemption for other industries, arguing that the rationale and justification is the same for EEE products as it is for automotive.

ECHA publishes new guidance on SVHC in articles

On December 17, 2015, ECHA published an update to the “Guidance on requirements for substances in articles”. The guidance document removes all of the interpretation and examples that contradict the September 2015 European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the interpretation of article as it relates to calculating SVHC content above 0.1% (w/w).  The removed guidance includes any reference to calculating SVHC content based on the weight of an entire product as imported into the EU.  It now simply refers to “every article” without consideration for products that are manufactured from multiple articles. The following is a relevant excerpt from the new guidance document:

As concerns the obligations to communicate information on substances in articles in general (i.e. communication with recipients and consumers), please note that:

        • The substance concentration threshold of 0.1% (w/w) applies to every article supplied. This threshold applies to each article of an object made up of more than one article, which were joined or assembled together;
  • There is no tonnage trigger for these obligations (i.e. they also apply below 1 tonne per year);
  • The obligations also apply to articles which were produced or imported before the substance was included in the Candidate List and are supplied after the inclusion. Thus, the date of supply of the article is the relevant date;
  • The substance name to be communicated is the one appearing on the Candidate List for authorisation.

ECHA plans to provide, in 2016, a more thorough revision of the guidance including new examples that are aligned with the ECJ ruling.

For additional information on developing or assessing a REACH SVHC compliance program, contact ECD Compliance.

The new guidance document is available at http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13632/articles_en.pdf

 

EU – REACH SVHCs added to Candidate List on December 17, 2015

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA), on December 17, 2015, added five new substances to the REACH SVHC Candidate List. The substances are listed in the table below. The Article 33 communication obligations specified in the REACH regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) came into effect as soon as the SVHCs were added to the Candidate List,

SVHCs Added to the REACH Candidate List on December 17, 2015

Substance NameEC numberCAS number
1,3-propanesultone214-317-91120-71-4
2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-(5-chlorobenzotriazol-2-yl)phenol (UV-327)223-383-83864-99-1
2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4-(tert-butyl)-6-(sec-butyl)phenol (UV-350)253-037-136437-37-3
Nitrobenzene202-716-098-95-3
Perfluorononan-1-oic-acid and its sodium and ammonium salts206-801-3375-95-1, 21049-39-8, 4149-60-4

The substance, Dicyclohexyl phthalate, had been proposed for addition to the Candidate List during this update, but was withdrawn by the dossier submitter (Sweden) and postponed to a later submission date. The substance hexamethylene diacrylate (hexane-1,6-diol diacrylate) had also been proposed for the REACH Candidate List but did not get added. The full Candidate List is available on the ECHA website.

For additional information on developing or assessing an effective REACH SVHC compliance program, contact ECD Compliance.

UAE – Notifies WTO of RoHS Regulation

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has proposed a RoHS regulation similar to the EU RoHS Directive but with UAE specific certification requirements. The proposed regulation covers the same scope of products as listed in the EU RoHS Directive (Annex I of the proposal) and essentially copies the substance restrictions, exemptions, and definitions. The intention to align with EU RoHS is good news for manufacturers and importers. However, there are a few anomolies in the alignment such as the transition date for the phthalate substance restrictions.  It’s unclear at this time as to whether the anomolies are intentional or unintentional.

Article 5 (Conformity Assessment) in the proposed regulation leverages the methodology provided in the EU RoHS Directive. However, the specifics will still need some additional work given that the UAE doesn’t have all of the necessary background regulations in place.

Article (5)

Conformity Assessment

5.1 Product(s) shall comply with Model A of conformity assessment.

5.2 All products covered by this scheme shall comply with the technical requirements mentioned in clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of this scheme.

5.3 The Manufacturer shall draw up a written Declaration of Conformity for each electrical equipment Model .The Manufacturer Declaration of Conformity shall identify the substances maximum concentration values in annex 2

5.4 The Manufacturer shall submit at least the following technical documents:
A general description of electrical equipment;
A detailed description with conceptual design and manufacturing drawings, including a list of components, materials, sub-assemblies and circuits used in the electrical equipment;
A list of the UAE Standards applied to meet the requirements of the Technical Regulations
Test reports

For technical documentation, the proposed regulation references IEC 50581: 2012; however, this is an EU standard (EN 50581) and not an IEC standard as suggested in the proposal. The IEC is currently working on an International version of EN 50581; it will be numbered IEC 63000 and not 50581.

A section on “Surveillance and Market Monitoring: specifies provisions for enforcement and what may be done in the event of a non-confromity.

Contact ECD Compliance, for additional information on the proposed regulation and services to assess your environmental product compliance requirements, keep you up to date on the impact to your products and markets and to implement compliance procedures.

US – Court of Appeals Rejects Mandatory Declaration of Conflict Mineral Status

The U.S. Court of Appeals re-confirmed its opinion that the SEC rule requiring companies to declare the conflict minerals sourcing status of their products violates the first amendment. The conflict mineral status refers to “DRC Conflict free” or “not been found to be DRC conflict free”. The SEC had requested the Court to review its original decision from April 2014 in light of was precedents set in other similar court cases.

The Court’s split decision (2-1) suggests that there are differences of opinion on this matter, even within the judicial circles. The court ruled only on the product declaration aspect of the SEC conflict minerals rule; all other provisions remain unaffected.

The April 2014 ruling was the result of legal action taken by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) against the U.S. SEC. NAM was hoping to strike down the entire conflict minerals rule; however, the court upheld all aspects of the rule except the product declaration.

The SEC still has the right to appeal this latest ruling. In the meantime, companies are not required to publicly declare the DRC conflict-free status of their products. However, other implications on organizations that are required to report to the SEC is speculated, but lacks legal certainty. This include that requirement for an independent audit performed on conflict minerals report (CMR).

For additional information and services to assess your environmental product compliance requirements, keep you up to date on the impact to your products and markets and to implement compliance procedures, contact ECD Compliance.

European Parliament Votes Mandatory Conflict Minerals Regulation – May 2015

The European Parliament vote on May 20, 2015 to push back on the European Commission’s proposed voluntary self-certification scheme for a mandatory system of

  • certification for importers of minerals to produce tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (3TG),
  • third-party audits for refiners and smelters to their check due diligence practices and
  • information on due diligence measures by downstream companies.

The European Parliament press release states:

In addition, “downstream” companies, that is, the 880 000 potentially affected EU firms that use tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold in manufacturing consumer products, will be obliged to provide information on the steps they take to identify and address risks in their supply chains for the minerals and metals concerned.

The EU proposal potentially covers sourcing from any conflict area, not limiting the scope of the due diligence measures to only the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) region.

The press release is available from European Parliament press release.

ECD Compliance clients will be receiving additional analysis and potential impacts of the Parliament’s approved changes in the upcoming Environmental Report.